Marissa is 9 Months Old

Marissa is actually getting closer to 9 1/2 months, but most of these pictures are from the past month or so. She is now crawling everywhere, pulling herself up on the furniture, going up the stairs (I'm working on teaching her how to go down so I won't have to guard her as much), climbing over everything - including people, putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, and just getting into trouble. She giggles all the time and is getting to be quite the mama's girl (which is a first for me since both the boys were always fine going with other people). Marissa is happiest just smiling and playing with her family. She loves being around her big brothers and seems to be able to hold her own already. Dylan is the rescuer/protector and Preston is the tolerant love bug that she has already realized she can take advantage of, stealing toys and food right from under him. She loves flipping through books and can entertain herself for quite some time doing this. Her ear is something she plays with all the time, and uses as a comfort item when nursing or going to sleep. She still uses a binkie, but more for bedtime and fussy moments than anything else. She LOVES the water, both swimming and bath time. She can turn the tears on and off like a light switch, which is also new to us. We're gearing up for the drama and emotions that seems to come standard with most girls. She loves baby food and can't get enough of the Gerber Graduate Puff cereal I put on her high chair while I'm fixing meals to keep her quiet. She still has just two little teeth on the bottom, which I am thrilled about. The boys got their chompers WAY too quickly. She smiles with her whole face and lights up a room with her charm. She loves smiling at others, but ducks her head towards me and gets a little shy when others smile back. I can't say enough about this little ladybug of ours. We love Marissa SO MUCH and can't picture our lives without this little ball of joy!!

Marissa and her cousin, Otis. They are only 2 1/2 weeks apart

Dylan's Quiet Time

I'm not sure how many of you know, but we do quiet time every day (well, unless we have a conflict). Marissa takes her afternoon nap, Preston chills, reads, plays with a toy or naps in his room and Dylan does his reading, listens to a book on CD or just flips through an interesting book in my room. Basically free time, but with quiet activities in separate rooms. It gives me time to read my scriptures, prepare any church lessons, and just have a minute to breathe. For those who don't know Dylan very well, the kid has quite the imagination. He apparently took my little camera to quiet time with him the other day, as well as his tote of animals. We've been reading all sorts of tales from Africa with our new Africa unit for school so he's got animals and everything Africa on the mind. It's a little long, but if you want a peek into the mind of Dylan, here it is.

Oh No...She Crawls!!!

This post is LONG overdue, but I figured I'd still better put it up here. Marissa was up on hands and knees and even taking steps backwards for awhile, but she could not seem to figure out crawling forward. Oh man, that made her mad. I never realized just how loud and high-pitched a girl scream could be. Wow! So even though I dreaded the day she would REALLY start crawling, I looked forward to less frustration from her. I mean, imagine seeing an object you want, focusing all your effort to take a "step" and realizing you are now further from the object. She officially started crawling on March 25, 2011, which happened to be my grandpa's 80th birthday. Cool! So she was a little over 8 months. I was truly she would be fat and lazy and sedentary until around 10 months, but ready or not...here she comes. She's been perfecting the art of crawling ever since, as well as learning to pull herself up on furniture and scoot around the room. Yes, our lives just got exponentially more difficult. We moved the crib down lower and have been watching her like a hawk, but that didn't stop a topple down the stairs and a bar stool rudely landing on top of her head. Her cry is so sad. She takes things happening to her very personally. This little one is definitely going to be rough and tough, as you can see from the little movie with my "helpers" involved. We like to train them early to be tough and since she seems to cry and get hurt more than the boys, she has further to go. She is well on her way to being able to wrestle with the best of them though. ;)